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    Straightforward Approach for Preparing Durable Antibacterial ZnO Nanoparticle Coatings on Flexible Substrates
    (Basel : MDPI, 2022) Šutka, Andris; Mežule, Linda; Denisova, Viktorija; Meier-Haack, Jochen; Kulkarni, Akshay; Bitina, Sanda; Smits, Krisjanis; Vihodceva, Svetlana
    Flexible antibacterial materials have gained utmost importance in protection from the distribution of bacteria and viruses due to the exceptional variety of applications. Herein, we demonstrate a readily scalable and rapid single-step approach for producing durable ZnO nanoparticle antibacterial coating on flexible polymer substrates at room temperature. Substrates used are polystyrene, poly(ethylene-co-vinyl acetate) copolymer, poly(methyl methacrylate), polypropylene, high density polyethylene and a commercial acrylate type adhesive tape. The deposition was achieved by a spin-coating process using a slurry of ZnO nanoparticles in toluene. A stable modification layer was obtained when toluene was a solvent for the polymer substrates, namely polystyrene and poly(ethylene-co-vinyl acetate). These coatings show high antibacterial efficiency causing >5 log decrease in the viable counts of Gram-negative bacteria Escherichia. coli and Gram-positive bacteria Staphylococcus aureus in 120 min. Even after tapping these coated surfaces 500 times, the antibacterial properties remained unchanged, showing that the coating obtained by the presented method is very robust. In contrast to the above findings, the coatings are unstable when toluene is not a solvent for the substrate.
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    MreB filaments align along greatest principal membrane curvature to orient cell wall synthesis
    (Cambridge : eLife Sciences Publications, 2018) Hussain, Saman; Wivagg, Carl N.; Szwedziak, Piotr; Wong, Felix; Schaefer, Kaitlin; Izoré, Thierry; Renner, Lars D.; Holmes, Matthew J.; Sun, Yingjie; Bisson-Filho, Alexandre W.; Walker, Suzanne; Amir, Ariel; Löwe, Jan; Garner, Ethan C.
    MreB is essential for rod shape in many bacteria. Membrane-associated MreB filaments move around the rod circumference, helping to insert cell wall in the radial direction to reinforce rod shape. To understand how oriented MreB motion arises, we altered the shape of Bacillus subtilis. MreB motion is isotropic in round cells, and orientation is restored when rod shape is externally imposed. Stationary filaments orient within protoplasts, and purified MreB tubulates liposomes in vitro, orienting within tubes. Together, this demonstrates MreB orients along the greatest principal membrane curvature, a conclusion supported with biophysical modeling. We observed that spherical cells regenerate into rods in a local, self-reinforcing manner: rapidly propagating rods emerge from small bulges, exhibiting oriented MreB motion. We propose that the coupling of MreB filament alignment to shape-reinforcing peptidoglycan synthesis creates a locally-acting, self-organizing mechanism allowing the rapid establishment and stable maintenance of emergent rod shape.